The Truth About Energy

John K. White is a physicist, writer, and educator, who has worked in the engineering, science, and education fields in Canada, the Netherlands, Ireland, and Spain. He is the editor of the website E21NS (Energy in the 21st Century News Service) and author of Do The Math! On Growth, Greed, and Strategic Thinking (2013, Sage). He was a lecturer in the School of Physics, University College Dublin, and the Department of Education, University of Oviedo, where he taught courses in atomic physics, optics, and science education.

'White's writing convincingly glides between scientific and technological descriptions of energy and the social world in which those descriptions both form, and are formed by, that same science and technology. Part expose, part explanatory guide, the book provides an excellent and balanced foundation from which to understand the transitions we must undergo in our troubled relationship to energy. The analysis is thoroughly researched and not shy about naming names as it builds upon specifics. Now thrown into crisis mode, we face extremely consequential choices - digesting this book enables the reader to understand the social consequences of energy choices.' Kirk W. Junker, Vice Rector for Sustainability, University of Cologne

• PART I. Out with the Old; 1. Wood to Coal: A Short History of the Industrial Revolution; 2. Oil and Gas: Twentieth-Century Prosperity; 3. The Nuclear World: Atoms for Peace; PART II. In with the New; 4. Old to New: The Sun and all its Glory; 5. The Old becomes New Again: More Sustainable Energy; 6. Driving the Revolution: From Volta to Tesla and Back; PART III. Less is More; 7. Rethink, Rebuild, Rewire; Afterword; Appendix A: Unit abbreviations; Appendix B: Metric prefixes; Appendix C: Useful Acronyms; Chapter Notes; Bibliography; References; Index.